"I mean the FCC is perfectly willing to accept bogous legal and technical arguments for deregulation of the airwaves"
It's the arguments for regulation of the airwaves that are entirely bogus. By relaxing them, the FCC took one little stemp toward doing the right thing.
"The fact that Lenin's revolution took place in a backward country that had no hope whatsoever of succeeding under actual Communism (let alone under the bastardized state Communism that developed there) doesn't have any bearing on the accuracy of his critique of capitalism."
That is a simplistic "excuse" cooked up by Marxist pseudo-intellectuals. Marx clearly had no idea what was going on, anywhere, at all. Much of his theory is based on invalid assumptions and imaginary psuedo-religious concepts like "surplus value" (something that is actually created by the capitalists AFTER the work of labour is paid for, NOT stolen from labour). That's just one example. There's little if any accuracy in his analysis and critique of anything. and attemps to follow his guidelines have been extremely disasterous for everyone. The result from Lenin was far from an abberation: it was the typical thing that happened when you applied Marx's ideas.
"If you'd asked Marx what would happen if a country in the condition of Russia in 1917 or post-War East Germany tried to establish a Communist state, he'd probably have been able to give you a pretty good idea."
Marx has to go on record as the worst thinker in history. His ideas were so disconnected with any sort of economic or human reality. The way Russia turned out is exactly what you would expect if you attempt to apply his ideas to the real world.
I wasn't being pedantic. The China situation does not involve theft, period. Why is it being "pedantic" to point out a change of subject? What he meant was entirely incorrect, so why not call him on it? I'd similarly have jumped on him if he had chosen to talk about the Chinese murdering or raping Microsoft by copying CDs. Murder and rape are no less off-topic than "theft" is.
"He was talking about getting a product or service without paying for it"
Actually? He wasn't. The easy part first: there is no "service" involved whatsoever. A service is when someone actually spends time doing something for you (like when you pay for a 1 hour support call on the phone with Microsoft). "Getting a product" is only a little less easily dismissed: as the "product" is not actually gotten. You aren't stealing an apple from Mr. Jones' apple cart, so to speak. You are making a new apple that is a copy of one of his. His products are not touched.
"How is it possible to pick out the cases in which actual deprivation of profit occurs?"
You can't. But your wording might indicate that you perhaps understand that some cases of unauthorized duplication result in loss and some do not.
"However, what the most people see as theft... that is, getting something without paying for it, which is denying the person who "owns" the thing (in this case, the right to copy it), is exactly what he's talking about."
Only if the people are ignorant morons, since there is no "theft" involved. There are plenty of other things which are wrong which are not theft. The blunder you are making is the fallacious assertion that if it is wrong, it must be theft. I counter with "there are many things that are wrong that are not classified as "theft".
"....the buses aren't full in my area..."
Nice analogy, which has nothing to do with anything. I see you are making the confusion and the huge leap from pointing out facts to justifying wrong things even if they are not theft or even if they do not cause money loss. Additionally, your analogies in a discussion about theft perhaps indicates that you don't know about other crimes such as trespassing(see hotel example) which also are not theft.
Nice set of links, but they had nothing to do with the situation in China in the year 1800 (which is 150 years prior to when Mao conquered the place). That was the time period you told us to look at! What does Japan's rape of Nanking and a link to an air combat site have to do with 1800? Very little.
As an aside, the current Chinese government sure sounds odd when it complains about Japan raping Nanking, when this government happened to to the same thing many times over to Chinese citizens as well (30,000,000+ killed inside actual Chinese borders, not counting Tibet). Yes, Japan should be apologizing, but what of China's Communist Party? How is it bad for Japan to invade and rape Nanking and for China to invade and rape Tibet? At least Japan eventually returned to owns own borders. China has yet to end the occupation of Tibet.
"Opera fan! Now that its FREE you can drop the excuses and actually give it a full try."
I will if you can answer me as to whether or not Opera has fixed that control / top / menu button area that was 10 times larger than it should have been. Otherwise, it's not worth the time to download to find out that it still sucks. Granted, it has been a few years since I saw the version of Opera where the browser control area took up 1/3 of the screen, but that was enough to keep me away from it for a long time.
"You should have seen what was being done, and who was doing it, to their people in the 150 years before the current government took power"
The closest war to 1800 (150 years prior to Mao's conquest) is the first Opium War of 1939. The Chinese casualty total was 30,000. (The second opium war of 1856 had 5,000 casualties). This 35,000 total is a quite notable fraction of the 30 MILLION + victims of Mao's wars against China and Tibet (after he declared victory in China).
"In your world, anyone who would not or could not pay for it can steal it"
I decided to address that. If they actually did steal it (say, by breaking into a software store or by hijacking a truck), there possibly be a financial loss to the software publisher, depending on insurance and who actually owns the software at the time of theft. In the case of the software store, the loss of money is almost certainly borne by the retailer, and the software publisher won't take a hit. The most sure way for theft to impact the publisher's bottom line would be if someone stole the software boxes from the publisher's own warehouse.
(None of which has anything to do with duplication of content on media, which does not involve theft in any way).
There is an easy way. However, it is a different way. Opening a new window with the menu is one of the 3 or 4 browser functions I use the most, and Microsoft could not leave well enough alone:(
"anyone who would not or could not pay for it can steal it"
Theft is an entirely new subject. We were talking about unauthorized duplication, not theft. You went way off topic, so it is hard to figure out what you are trying to say.
" Write the text of the law that allows this usage for those who could or would not pay otherwise."
I was not attempting to justify the duplication or ask for a change in the law. I was just pointing out the fact of the very nebulous connection between instances of unauthorized duplication and actual financial loss to the software comapany. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it does not. An excellent example of where it happens is when some junior high kid gets an illicit copy of $800 Autocad on his hard disk. $0 goes to the software company, right? Now, imagine if this kid was not able to get this copy. He doesn't have the money to buy one, so he's going to do without. $0 goes to the software company. Thus, you have no difference in the software company's revenues due to this act of "piracy.". This is what happens in the real world, not "my world."
"Those that vilify it might be angered by the fact that they do give airtime to different views. That's got to really burn them up."
Yes, conservativies villify it for giving airtime to "different" views (different from their own) just as liberals villify conservative talk radio for giving airtime to "different" views (different from their own). The difference, however, is that only one of these outlets has people threatened with violence and/or jail time if they refuse to pay money to support it.
"Sure, punish them for being affordable while letting the military blow billions on pork-barel"
The nice fallacy of "it's OK, it's only a little waste".
"ah, you probably don't listen to public radio"
I listened to 3 hours yesterday (compared to 3 minutes of Limbaugh). The ratio and amounts will likely be the same today.
"On the other hand, if all you want is an extreme conservative point of view and top 10 country hits, then public radio probably isn't for you"
No more extreme than the liberal views on NPR...and all without people being forced to pay for it.
They hid the file menu for some reason, so you have to go change a setting to fix it. And then it doesn't work well: the tried-and-true menu motion for File-New to open a new window ends up going to the tabs instead. Why did they have to mess with the menus?
In the US, all unions are wings of one particular political party, and their primary function is to raise funds for the party through forced "donations." These unions aren't really about advocating for the worker: they always are spending money fighting against workers.
Let us all mourn the death of great TV ads. Surely something to be missed, along with the previous passing of the Spanish Inquisition, the bubonic plague, the Iron Maiden, and having boiling oil poured on you from cathedral tops by irate bellringers.
"The Western Working Class -- you know, the ones whose jobs have been sold off to the lowest bidder are powerless to do anything about this."
Well, instead of whining that they are "powerless" that some people "steal" jobs by being better at them, they can instead find something they are good at. It works for most, which is why in the era of "globalization" the actual number of Americans holding good middle-class jobs or better has been increasing. The worst whiners are those who actually got away with being paid $40 an hour for a low-value low-skill grunt job (auto workers) that was really worth $8 an hour.
"For once in the course of history, our Labour has no Value to the Ruling Class."
For the most part, the value of labour is determined in the private sector, not by the rulers.
"First of all there is the crazy piracy which costs them huge dollars"
Can it be proven that Microsoft is losing anything? I mean, if these Chinese could not pirate Windows, Office, etc for free, how many of them would even consider paying for it?
"some of the most respected and professional journalism available in the US"
Respected by those who agree with them, yes. Vilified by those who don't. The "Journalists" of Foxed News are probably even more respected by more people. Why not then force taxpayers to subsidize Fox News as well?
"And what does it cost you? probably a few pennies a year in gov taxes plus whatever you care to donate."
If the forced money is so small, then they can do without it, right?
"some of the most creative music across all genres available in the US"
The majority of which is CLASSICAL music. Which was creative and innovative...a couple of hundred years ago.
Why is a CO2 molecule from India OK and one from the US evil? Come back with a set of Kyoto Accords that bans the CO2 emissions no matter what country they come from. Until they, it's all politics and not even worth consideration.
" I think any mention of religion constitutes "respecting an establishment of religion"
That's a restriction on Congress, not individuals. For individuals, there is no exception to "Freedom of Speech" when it comes to religion. The ACLU is out of line when it censors individuals. Do you own a gun, by the way?
Slashdot Mirror
"I mean the FCC is perfectly willing to accept bogous legal and technical arguments for deregulation of the airwaves"
It's the arguments for regulation of the airwaves that are entirely bogus. By relaxing them, the FCC took one little stemp toward doing the right thing.
"The fact that Lenin's revolution took place in a backward country that had no hope whatsoever of succeeding under actual Communism (let alone under the bastardized state Communism that developed there) doesn't have any bearing on the accuracy of his critique of capitalism."
That is a simplistic "excuse" cooked up by Marxist pseudo-intellectuals. Marx clearly had no idea what was going on, anywhere, at all. Much of his theory is based on invalid assumptions and imaginary psuedo-religious concepts like "surplus value" (something that is actually created by the capitalists AFTER the work of labour is paid for, NOT stolen from labour). That's just one example. There's little if any accuracy in his analysis and critique of anything. and attemps to follow his guidelines have been extremely disasterous for everyone. The result from Lenin was far from an abberation: it was the typical thing that happened when you applied Marx's ideas.
"If you'd asked Marx what would happen if a country in the condition of Russia in 1917 or post-War East Germany tried to establish a Communist state, he'd probably have been able to give you a pretty good idea."
Marx has to go on record as the worst thinker in history. His ideas were so disconnected with any sort of economic or human reality. The way Russia turned out is exactly what you would expect if you attempt to apply his ideas to the real world.
"Oh stop being so pedantic"
I wasn't being pedantic. The China situation does not involve theft, period. Why is it being "pedantic" to point out a change of subject? What he meant was entirely incorrect, so why not call him on it? I'd similarly have jumped on him if he had chosen to talk about the Chinese murdering or raping Microsoft by copying CDs. Murder and rape are no less off-topic than "theft" is.
"He was talking about getting a product or service without paying for it"
Actually? He wasn't. The easy part first: there is no "service" involved whatsoever. A service is when someone actually spends time doing something for you (like when you pay for a 1 hour support call on the phone with Microsoft). "Getting a product" is only a little less easily dismissed: as the "product" is not actually gotten. You aren't stealing an apple from Mr. Jones' apple cart, so to speak. You are making a new apple that is a copy of one of his. His products are not touched.
"How is it possible to pick out the cases in which actual deprivation of profit occurs?"
You can't. But your wording might indicate that you perhaps understand that some cases of unauthorized duplication result in loss and some do not.
"However, what the most people see as theft... that is, getting something without paying for it, which is denying the person who "owns" the thing (in this case, the right to copy it), is exactly what he's talking about."
Only if the people are ignorant morons, since there is no "theft" involved. There are plenty of other things which are wrong which are not theft. The blunder you are making is the fallacious assertion that if it is wrong, it must be theft. I counter with "there are many things that are wrong that are not classified as "theft".
"....the buses aren't full in my area..."
Nice analogy, which has nothing to do with anything. I see you are making the confusion and the huge leap from pointing out facts to justifying wrong things even if they are not theft or even if they do not cause money loss. Additionally, your analogies in a discussion about theft perhaps indicates that you don't know about other crimes such as trespassing(see hotel example) which also are not theft.
Nice set of links, but they had nothing to do with the situation in China in the year 1800 (which is 150 years prior to when Mao conquered the place). That was the time period you told us to look at! What does Japan's rape of Nanking and a link to an air combat site have to do with 1800? Very little.
As an aside, the current Chinese government sure sounds odd when it complains about Japan raping Nanking, when this government happened to to the same thing many times over to Chinese citizens as well (30,000,000+ killed inside actual Chinese borders, not counting Tibet). Yes, Japan should be apologizing, but what of China's Communist Party? How is it bad for Japan to invade and rape Nanking and for China to invade and rape Tibet? At least Japan eventually returned to owns own borders. China has yet to end the occupation of Tibet.
"Opera fan! Now that its FREE you can drop the excuses and actually give it a full try."
I will if you can answer me as to whether or not Opera has fixed that control / top / menu button area that was 10 times larger than it should have been. Otherwise, it's not worth the time to download to find out that it still sucks. Granted, it has been a few years since I saw the version of Opera where the browser control area took up 1/3 of the screen, but that was enough to keep me away from it for a long time.
"You should have seen what was being done, and who was doing it, to their people in the 150 years before the current government took power"
The closest war to 1800 (150 years prior to Mao's conquest) is the first Opium War of 1939. The Chinese casualty total was 30,000. (The second opium war of 1856 had 5,000 casualties). This 35,000 total is a quite notable fraction of the 30 MILLION + victims of Mao's wars against China and Tibet (after he declared victory in China).
"He's sees you when you're sleeping
He knows if you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness' sake
Oh, you better watch out..."
"In your world, anyone who would not or could not pay for it can steal it"
I decided to address that. If they actually did steal it (say, by breaking into a software store or by hijacking a truck), there possibly be a financial loss to the software publisher, depending on insurance and who actually owns the software at the time of theft. In the case of the software store, the loss of money is almost certainly borne by the retailer, and the software publisher won't take a hit. The most sure way for theft to impact the publisher's bottom line would be if someone stole the software boxes from the publisher's own warehouse.
(None of which has anything to do with duplication of content on media, which does not involve theft in any way).
There is an easy way. However, it is a different way. Opening a new window with the menu is one of the 3 or 4 browser functions I use the most, and Microsoft could not leave well enough alone :(
"anyone who would not or could not pay for it can steal it"
Theft is an entirely new subject. We were talking about unauthorized duplication, not theft. You went way off topic, so it is hard to figure out what you are trying to say.
" Write the text of the law that allows this usage for those who could or would not pay otherwise."
I was not attempting to justify the duplication or ask for a change in the law. I was just pointing out the fact of the very nebulous connection between instances of unauthorized duplication and actual financial loss to the software comapany. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it does not. An excellent example of where it happens is when some junior high kid gets an illicit copy of $800 Autocad on his hard disk. $0 goes to the software company, right? Now, imagine if this kid was not able to get this copy. He doesn't have the money to buy one, so he's going to do without. $0 goes to the software company. Thus, you have no difference in the software company's revenues due to this act of "piracy.". This is what happens in the real world, not "my world."
"Those that vilify it might be angered by the fact that they do give airtime to different views. That's got to really burn them up."
Yes, conservativies villify it for giving airtime to "different" views (different from their own) just as liberals villify conservative talk radio for giving airtime to "different" views (different from their own). The difference, however, is that only one of these outlets has people threatened with violence and/or jail time if they refuse to pay money to support it.
"Sure, punish them for being affordable while letting the military blow billions on pork-barel"
The nice fallacy of "it's OK, it's only a little waste".
"ah, you probably don't listen to public radio"
I listened to 3 hours yesterday (compared to 3 minutes of Limbaugh). The ratio and amounts will likely be the same today.
"On the other hand, if all you want is an extreme conservative point of view and top 10 country hits, then public radio probably isn't for you"
No more extreme than the liberal views on NPR...and all without people being forced to pay for it.
They hid the file menu for some reason, so you have to go change a setting to fix it. And then it doesn't work well: the tried-and-true menu motion for File-New to open a new window ends up going to the tabs instead. Why did they have to mess with the menus?
In the US, all unions are wings of one particular political party, and their primary function is to raise funds for the party through forced "donations." These unions aren't really about advocating for the worker: they always are spending money fighting against workers.
"the death of the great TV ads of the past"
Let us all mourn the death of great TV ads. Surely something to be missed, along with the previous passing of the Spanish Inquisition, the bubonic plague, the Iron Maiden, and having boiling oil poured on you from cathedral tops by irate bellringers.
"The Western Working Class -- you know, the ones whose jobs have been sold off to the lowest bidder are powerless to do anything about this."
Well, instead of whining that they are "powerless" that some people "steal" jobs by being better at them, they can instead find something they are good at. It works for most, which is why in the era of "globalization" the actual number of Americans holding good middle-class jobs or better has been increasing. The worst whiners are those who actually got away with being paid $40 an hour for a low-value low-skill grunt job (auto workers) that was really worth $8 an hour.
"For once in the course of history, our Labour has no Value to the Ruling Class."
For the most part, the value of labour is determined in the private sector, not by the rulers.
"China will quit buying from Airbus and Boeing and will have a functional commercial aircraft, thanx to Airbus."
And we'll have more aircraft for a much lower price. The problem is...?
I use the goggles to get maps through the tubes of the Internets. Try it. For great strategery.
"First of all there is the crazy piracy which costs them huge dollars"
Can it be proven that Microsoft is losing anything? I mean, if these Chinese could not pirate Windows, Office, etc for free, how many of them would even consider paying for it?
"some of the most respected and professional journalism available in the US"
Respected by those who agree with them, yes. Vilified by those who don't. The "Journalists" of Foxed News are probably even more respected by more people. Why not then force taxpayers to subsidize Fox News as well?
"And what does it cost you? probably a few pennies a year in gov taxes plus whatever you care to donate."
If the forced money is so small, then they can do without it, right?
"some of the most creative music across all genres available in the US"
The majority of which is CLASSICAL music. Which was creative and innovative...a couple of hundred years ago.
"Maybe a mashup of Seven-of-Nine in her slinky Borg catsuit with Bill's head on top...?"
Why not just leave her regular head in place? And come to think of it, nix the catsuit. Now your talking.
"I am curious when was Posse Comitatus suspended recently?"
Shame on you for missing the last Bildeburger meeting. Didn't you read the announcement in your "Skull and Bones Society Alumni" newsletter?
Why is a CO2 molecule from India OK and one from the US evil? Come back with a set of Kyoto Accords that bans the CO2 emissions no matter what country they come from. Until they, it's all politics and not even worth consideration.
For stories like this, perhaps the Gates pic should not have the borg hardware. De-assimilation, you know.
" I think any mention of religion constitutes "respecting an establishment of religion"
That's a restriction on Congress, not individuals. For individuals, there is no exception to "Freedom of Speech" when it comes to religion. The ACLU is out of line when it censors individuals. Do you own a gun, by the way?